i like to drink you with a little salt and lime
by splendidlyimperfect
Summary: Rogue doesn't sing - unless he's had a bit of tequila. Yukino's housewarming party gets interesting. / **Part of 'i'm with them' series, see profile for links**


"I am way too sober for this."

Rogue crosses his arms over his chest as he watches Sting and Natsu belting out 'Total Eclipse of the Heart,' giggling drunkenly and leaning against each other while they sing.

Gray, who is only slightly more sober than the two of them, raises an eyebrow at Rogue.

"What, you don' wanna embarrass yourself in front of everyone?" Gray asks, leaning forward on the couch and wrapping an arm around Rogue's waist. He presses a sloppy kiss to Rogue's cheek and Rogue sighs, running his fingers affectionately through Gray's hair.

"You know I don't sing, love," he says, kissing Gray's head. "Besides, the two of them are embarrassing themselves enough for the four of us."

Yukino appears behind them, plate of hors d'ouevres in her hand. Gray takes a couple, giving her an tipsy smile.

"You don't regret the karaoke machine yet?" Rogue asks. Yukino laughs as Natsu and Sting move on to a pop song that Rogue vaguely recognizes from Sting's 'dancing while cleaning' playlist. "Your new neighbors might not be too fond of you," Rogue adds, rolling his eyes.

"That's why they're all here," Yukino says, gesturing around the new house at the crowd of unfamiliar faces. "I figured they wouldn't be so put out by a party if they were invited to it."

"Good plan," Rogue says, looking around. He knows a couple of people here as regulars at the café, but the rest of them are strangers.

"Also, your boyfriends are adorably entertaining," Yukino adds, giving Rogue a sweet smile before heading off to mingle with the rest of the guests.

Gray snuggles up to Rogue, slipping under his arm and moving until he's practically in Rogue's lap. He tips his head back and gives Rogue an adoring look, and Rogue enjoys the softness in Gray's normally guarded expression.

"You're affectionate tonight," Rogue murmurs in Gray's ear. Gray hums happily and nuzzles Rogue's neck.

"'s cause I love you," he says simply, taking a sip of his beer. "An' I've had... a few of these." He looks up at Rogue, then at the kitchen where some people Rogue don't recognize are mixing drinks. "They've got that- the tequila you like."

"Oh?" Rogue raises his eyebrows.

"Y-yeah, the- remember when we played 'Never Have I Ever', an-and Natsu said he wanted to-"

"Yes, I remember," Rogue interrupts, laughing and kissing Gray's forehead.

"'s that stuff," Gray says.

"I'm driving us home, remember?" Rogue shakes his head.

"Pff." Gray waves his hand. "'s what Uber is for."

Rogue laughs, giving only a mild protest as Gray stands up and drags him to his feet, then into the kitchen for a drink.

* * *

"Who gave Rogue tequila?" Natsu pokes Gray, who looks up at him with a sheepish grin. Natsu rolls his eyes, flopping down on the couch next to Gray and leaning against his shoulder.

"You smell like candy," Gray says, resting his head on Natsu's.

"Mm. Sting got me to try somethin'… it was pink?" Natsu frowns, gesturing vaguely toward the kitchen. "Tasted like Skittles." He turns to Gray and grins. "Wanna try it?"

Before Gray can protest, Natsu kisses him, and to Gray's surprise, he does taste like Skittles. Gray hums appreciatively, running his fingers through Natsu's hair and enjoying the kiss for a moment before Natsu's first question catches up to his slightly addled brain.

"Wait." Gray pulls back from Natsu, trying not to look at how pink his lips are. "Why- how'd you know Rogue had th-the tequila?"

Natsu doesn't respond, just points over to where Rogue is standing with Lucy, who is laughing at something he said and gesturing at the karaoke machine. Gray's eyes widen when, instead of vehemently protesting, Rogue nods and wraps an arm around Lucy's shoulders.

"Oh, shit," Gray whispers.

"What'd you do now?" Sting asks, appearing on Gray's other side and kissing his cheek. He follows Gray's gaze over to the karaoke machine and bursts out laughing.

"Man, he's gonna regret this tomorrow," Sting says. "Do we stop him or film him?"

Natsu already has his phone out. Gray thinks about smacking it out of his hands, then recalls the dozens of embarrassing videos of himself in the group chat, and lets Natsu hit 'record.'

"If he sings 'The Black Parade' I'm gonna die," Natsu giggle-whispers, camera shaky in his hands. Gray snorts, but Sting shakes his head.

"Mm. Tequila-drunk Rogue likes country music."

Both Gray and Natsu turn to Sting, frowning at him with twin expressions of inebriated disbelief.

"Rogue," Natsu says slowly, looking back over at their boyfriend, "likes country music."

"Our Rogue?" Gray adds, squinting at Sting and wondering exactly how much all of them have had to drink. "Our boyfriend? You can't-"

And then the music starts, and Gray realizes with incredulous amusement that Sting is right.

"Holy shit," Natsu whispers as Rogue and Lucy began to sing. "He's gonna- he'll murder us tomorrow." He keeps filming, and adds, "totally worth it."

Gray has heard Rogue sing before, obviously – in the shower, or under his breath while they cook – but never like this. The song is twangy, distinctly country, catchy as hell, and Rogue sounds… well, amazing. His voice is deep and rich and – considering how much he's had to drink – surprisingly in key.

"C'mere." Sting reaches down for Gray's hands, and before Gray can protest, Sting pulls him to his feet. Gray frowns as Sting places a hand on Gray's waist, then takes a step back. "Dance with me?" he asks softly, giving Gray the sweet, sunshine smile he can never refuse. "Please?"

"Only 'cause you're… 'cause you said please, an' you're the prettiest," Gray says, leaning in and kissing the pink flush that creeps across Sting's cheeks.

Luckily, two-stepping doesn't require too much coordination or effort on Gray's part, and the two of them move around the living room to the sound of Rogue singing. Gray lets the words wash over him, enjoying the voice that he rarely gets to hear.

_You and me goin' fishin' in the dark  
lying on our backs and countin' the stars, where the cool grass grows_

Sting's hands are warm beneath Gray's, and everyone else in the living room seems to fade away as they step around empty plates and manage not to crash into the coffee table. Sting's steps are smooth, and Gray can feel the heat of Sting's fingers on his hip.

_Down by the river in the full moonlight  
we'll be falling in love in the middle of the night, just moving slow_

"Rogue's gonna kill Natsu tomorrow," Sting comments mildly, gesturing over to the sofa where Natsu is moving the camera between the two of them dancing, and Rogue singing. Gray feels like he should probably be annoyed, but Natsu is giggling with Yukino, and Gray loves Natsu's laugh.

"Mm," Gray says quietly, leaning forward and resting his head on Sting's shoulder. "But- he's good. Rogue is. His voice, it's- really pretty." Sting hums in agreement. "He should- should sing for us more."

_Stayin' the whole night through  
feels so good to be with you_

As the music fades away, Gray kisses Sting, then looks over at Rogue. Rogue's cheeks are flushed and he's got his bangs pushed out of his face, showing off his wide smile. When Rogue looks over at them, Gray thinks he could get lost forever in the dark of Rogue's eyes.

"You're a sappy drunk," Sting murmurs, and Gray realizes that he said that out loud. He's about to protest when Rogue moves over to them, and he's so fucking gorgeous that Gray really doesn't give a shit what anybody else thinks.

"Hey, baby," Gray says softly, grabbing Rogue's shirt and pulling him in for a kiss. Rogue tastes like liquor, like salt and tequila and Gray's almost desperate for it, licking at Rogue's lips as he brushes his fingers through Rogue's hair.

"We do have an audience," Sting reminds them, and Gray feels his cheeks flush hot as he pulls back from Rogue, glancing over at where some of Yukino's coworkers are staring at them and giggling. Sober Gray would probably have the decency to be embarrassed, but right now, drunk Gray's not interested in anybody but his boyfriends.

"You've got a pretty voice," he says to Rogue, kissing him once more as Sting squeezes his hand and then returns to the couch where Natsu and Yukino are laughing over the video. "You should sing more often."

"Hm." Rogue rubs his nose against Gray's, running his thumbs over Gray's cheekbones. "This is…" He pauses for a second, frowning as if waiting for his thoughts to catch up. "All of this is- it's your fault."

Gray snorts, letting out a sound that definitely isn't a giggle.

"I'm serious!" Rogue says, placing both hands on either side of Gray's face and staring at him intently. "You…"

Gray tips his head to the side, and they stare intently at each other for several seconds before Rogue shrugs, whatever he'd been going to say forgotten.

"Hey, you two!" They both turn to Natsu, who's grinning at them from the couch. "How 'bout you give us an encore?"

* * *

"They are going to _hate _themselves tomorrow," Natsu whispers, trying his best to hold his phone still as he films Rogue and Gray. "I love it."

Sting is giggling hysterically with his head in Natsu's lap – the Jello shots have finally caught up to him – and Yukino is sprawled halfway over Sting's legs, sipping on her beer.

"I mean, they're not bad," she admits, tipping her bottle toward them. They've moved on to Shania Twain now, and Natsu can't keep it together as Gray turns to him drunkenly and sings, _he's gotta be a heartbeatin', fire-breathin', breathtakin', earthquakin' kiiiiiiind… any man of mine… _

"I am _living _for this," Natsu cackles, bringing his hand down to Sting's hair and running his fingers through it. Sting makes a purring sound and pushes his head up into the touch as he taps out the beat on Yukino's thighs.

"You should- you need t' have parties more oft'n," Sting mumbles at Yukino, who laughs and kisses him on the forehead. "I like them singin'. 's nice."

"It is," Natsu says, voice suddenly soft. The music fades into the background, and Natsu blinks, looking down at Sting fondly. Sting gazes back up at him, adoration written over his face, and Natsu leans down to kiss him.

When he looks back up, Rogue and Gray are laughing so hard they're nearly falling over, a new ridiculous song playing in the background that they don't quite know the lyrics for, so they're making up the words as they go.

Natsu keeps the camera rolling, know that while it will embarrass the hell out of Gray and Rogue, Natsu will treasure how happy and carefree they look for a long, long time. His boyfriends do kind of look like idiots up there, but they're _his _idiots, and all Natsu can do is smile.


End file.
